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I bought the 5 artifact lands from Mirrodin to add to my artifact deck; it works with the artifact theme (having all of my cards be artifacts) and goes well with my Darksteel Juggernauts.

The thing is, the other day a friend told me that, because they are artifacts and not basic lands, I could play a basic land and as many artifact lands as I have in my hand in a single turn. Is this true?

I find it hard to believe as that would make then overpowered and everyone would use them.

Can anyone verify this or point me to an article where artifact lands are discussed?

As an aside, they are overpowered, just not for that reason, and were banned from the standard format when they were new and are banned from the new 'modern' format presently. Just mentioning, don't be surprised if your friends get irritated by how easily you kick their butts using a metalcraft deck powered up by Mirrodin lands :)
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AffeAug 19 '11 at 4:45

@Affe I created an artifact deck and thought it was cool that I could make every card an artifact :) I have no metal craft and was using them as normal land until my friend told me they had other rules. On a side note some of the people I play have spent over £200 a deck and have 20 + mythic in them and have attempted to use over half the banned list lol
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SkeithAug 19 '11 at 8:25

1 Answer
1

Artifact lands may be artifacts, but they are also lands, and all the usual rules about how often you can play and land (i.e. once a turn, on your turn) still apply to them. The same goes for creature lands like Dryad Arbor from Future Sight: if you've played a land already that turn, you can't then play your Dryad Arbor.

If you want to dump out a ton of mana production on your first turn, you're going to have to invest many thousands of dollars for a large collection of Moxes, I'm afraid to say.

From the Comprehensive Rules, section 305, Lands:

305.2. A player may normally play only one land during his or her
turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number. If any
such effects exist, the player announces which effect, or this rule,
applies to each land play as it happens.

305.9. If an object is both a land and another card type, it can be
played only as a land. It can't be cast as a spell.

Essentially, the fact of an Artifact Land being an artifact doesn't mean it is no longer bound by the rules for lands; it must follow all the normal rules for lands, and all the normal rules for artifacts too - so it is a valid target for Shatter, and so on.

Oh, I don't know, there are a ton of cards which allow you to dump a bunch of lands down or otherwise accelerate your mana without investing in Moxes. ;)
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ghoppeAug 12 '11 at 15:09

@ghoppe - Good point, I've changed my answer to say "on your first turn". Obviously there are ways to ramp your mana if you're willing to work hard at it; the OP seemed to be looking for an easy short cut, and THAT doesn't exist except at a price :D
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thesunneversetsAug 12 '11 at 15:27

1

@Skeith: Also, it sounds like your friend has the idea that basic lands have different rules than nonbasic lands when it comes to playing them; this is not true. Rules-wise, the only differences between basics and nonbasics is how many cards with the same name you're allowed to play in your deck, and the supertype or lack thereof.
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adamjfordAug 18 '11 at 19:58